Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse

by Les Murray

Book Overview

A riveting, beautiful novel in verse by Australia's greatest contemporary poet, winner of the 1996 T. S. Eliot Prize.

I never learned the old top ropes,
I was always in steam.
Less capstan, less climbing,
more re-stowing cargo.
Which could be hard and slow
as farming- but to say

Why this is Valparaiso

Or: I'm in Singapore and know my way about
takes a long time to get stale
.-from Book I, "The Middle...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374526761
• ISBN13: 9780374526764
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Moby Dicked

It's tough out there. Don't be fooled; given the chance, our fellow man is a brute with a night stick. Les Murray paints a Hobbesian world and takes the reader on a global ride to prove his point. It begins in Turkey with the sight of women being burned alive and ends in Dresden and Hiroshima. The killing and cruelty never end. Man's senses are geared to sniffing out outsiders and making them sorry they ventured outside their allotted doghouse. At the end of Fredy's odyssey through the twentieth century's killing machine, which includes Europe, America and Asia, we learn that the exploitation of man by man is the only universal worth talking about. Stalinism, Hitlerism and other isms of liberation are just cover for atrocity-making at the hands of goons in the employ of the state. Fredy learns and simultaneously teaches the lessons of the century. It's always better to stay home. This novel in verse is Homeric in every sense of the word; the writing is superb. Murray has all the tools of the English language well in hand; his is a Shakespearean talent, equal to best novelists of our time, with the added genius of the poet. Compression is the key; in the hands of the magical realists this would be a 3000 page, 10-volume monster of unreadable prose. One is dazzled not only by the verbal dexterity and wit, but one basks in the glow of wisdom. Fredy is never taken in by the century's cant; his is an Orwellian cast of mind, always on the alert for words that justify killing. His is a moral conscience equal to our greatest poets: Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeare. What is evil, he asks? He can't say, but he knows it when he sees it.

Imaginative Epic - 20th Century "Hero"

Les Murray has created an unusual "everyman" hero, Fredy Neptune, whose adventures are linked to significant geographies, events, and themes of the last century. He's anything but the "ordinary" sailor we first meet, and subsequently is often perceived to possess superhuman powers. Murray has succeeded in making an epic in verse that's delightfully entertaining, poetic in its language, and completely engaging. If you are put off by the thought of reading a novel in verse, don't be. It's a richly rewarding work that you will greatly enjoy. For those of you who'd like to read a much more detailed review, I suggest Ruth Padel's from the New York Times which you can find using most search engines.

Odyssean Myth for the Twentieth Century

`Fredy Neptune' is a rare thing. It is one of the great democratic novels of the twentieth century, paralleling `Ulysses' in its sense of the ordinary and reverence for the everyday. And like Joyce's masterpiece, it is Homeric in its sense of suffering, exile and homecoming. Yet the homecoming, in `Fredy Neptune', is more psychological and existential than geographical. The main character, a German Australian sailor witnesses the murder of a group of Armenian women during the Turkish genocide of 1915. He suffers profound moral shock and loses all sense of feeling, both bodily and psychologically. After rescuing a Jewish man and a handicapped boy from Hitler's racial hygiene program, Fredy stumbles across an idea that will heal his fragmented condition; he must `forgive the victim'. Why? This is Murray's response to current ethical imperatives. He can only heal himself, can only return from the traumatic seas of psychic dissociation, if he comes to terms with the voice of conscience. Fredy forgives the victims of history, who include Jews, women and Aborigines, for they linger like a moral irritant in his mind. Once he has forgiven them he begins to `pray with a whole heart' and the process of re-integration with his body begins. Readers interested in Murray's other poetry will find 'Fredy Neptune' is resonant with his collection of autobiographical poetry `Killing the Black Dog', which also contains a revealing essay by the author. The parallels between `Fredy Neptune' and Murray's personal history are illuminating. `Fredy Neptune' is arguably one of the major works of 20c poetry.

the man with blank senses

This is an odd book; even down to its dimensions.It's taller than average...a good thing if you plan to travel with it. I dunno, some things just carry easier.As for the content, all I can say is it sometimes carries the same tune as Bukowski in his rare "sensitive" moments, when the ugly monster disappears and is replaced by something far more palatable. I bought the book at a bookstore blowout, when all that was left were Road Atlas's, How To books and posters of various 'has beens' and 'what-nots'.There it was, completely ignored on the shelf, and probably because as the title suggests, it's completely in verse.It's not in rhyming verse though, which is a plus for those of us who are annoyed by musicals and slant rhymes.One bit of irony is that while the book is about a man who has lost his ability to "feel", both literally and figuratively in some cases, it is extremely sensuous and is able to condense into one verse what a regular novel would take pages to resolve.The book is dark, gritty and you can smell the stink of the various docks and ship holds and whores our hero meets on his travels. Hell, I'm raving about it and I haven't even finished it yet. I take it with me while I'm sucking down coffee, and there are various markings and underlinings and cheap tea stains all over it; I suspect that I will destroy this book before I reach the final page, which is fine, because I really don't want it to end, which sounds rather childish, even sophomoric. Whatever. I'll be searching for more of Murray's work. I would give you a verse but it wouldn't do the whole any justice whatsover.It sings like "The Man Without Qualities", and in fact has alot in common with that book. They just "feel" the same. I know, Bukowski, Musil? There's more, but I don't want to risk anymore comparisons.Email me if you have nothing better to do with your time, and think you want to wrestle with idiots.Jose[f] Olivo

amusing, amazing, definitely worth it

i would be less than honest if i said i was not daunted by the prospect of reading a novel in verse. many were the times when i had to reread passages to catch the drift. there was a considerable amount of aussie argot that needed getting used to. but i remember struggling at first with homer and the odessey( there is a striking resemblance to this ancient work in terms of this book's morality) and figured it was worth doing. the mother in law will teach you forbearance, laura is steadfast and truly honest. saving the best for last, the last book and indeed the last pages are a true climax to what you hoped would be the great end to this novel. have a go!!